Humiliated Nigerian passengers fly home


 A diplomatic row between Nigeria and her West African neighbour Togo has been averted with the swift intervention of the Foreign Affairs Minister and the Ambassador to Togo.

A viral video had circulated on Saturday of the Nigerian transit passengers being brutalised at the Gnassingbe Eyadema International Airport in Lome.

The Nigerian travellers, who have now been evacuated home, had landed on Saturday in Lome via an Ethiopian carrier from New York hoping to connect an ASKY flight to Lagos. But the ASKY carrier was reportedly said to be full.

Upon a protest by the aggrieved transit passengers, the Togolese security personnel at the airport shackled and manhandled some of the protesters. The horrific incident was captured in the viral video.

Nigeria's Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama reacted to the unpleasant news and stepped in from Istanbul, Turkey where he has been attending the third Turkey-Nigeria Partnership Summit as part of President Muhammadu Buhari's delegation.

Nigeria's Ambassador to Togo, Debo Adesina immediately headed to the airport to take charge of the situation. 

When Breezy News contacted him at about 10:40 pm Nigerian time on Saturday, Adesina said he had just returned from the airport having resolved the matter.

Adesina worked with the boss of the Togolese civil aviation authority, Dokisime Gnama Latta to provide two flights that airlifted the Nigerian passengers that same night.

ASKY Airline, a strategic partner of the Ethiopian Airlines, is said to have been facing challenges in the last three weeks due to traffic volume and low capacity.

Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa said that Nigeria was investigating the matter.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nigeria records highest Covid cases, Europe imposes restrictions

Image
Nigeria's Covid-19 situation is now alarming! This is just as European leaders are coming up with drastic restriction measures to curtail the spread of the virus, particularly the Omicron variant, which  is fast accounting for the major cause of Covid-19 cases in the region. For the first time in February 2020 when Nigeria registered in the Covid map, the highest daily count was recorded on Wednesday.  The 4,035 new cases reported were almost double that of 2,078 on Tuesday, which was the highest until this new infamous record. Lagos State alone accounts for 3,393 cases with the other states being Rivers (260), Edo (62), Akwa Ibom (42), Kaduna (39), Ekiti and Oyo (38 each) while Delta and Kano have 31 each. Others are: Ogun (30), Abia (26), Bauchi (15), Ondo (14), Enugu (9), and Kwara (7). So far, 231,413 cases have been reported with 211,853 discharged and 2,991 fatalities.  The Federal Government and its relevant agencies have cautioned against travels and mass soc...
Read more

NCDC calls in security agencies to enforce Covid protocol, as Omicron ravages

Image
The  Nigeria Centre for Disease Control  (NCDC) has urged security agencies to collaborate with religious bodies in the enforcement of Covid-19 safety protocols during the festive season. The new concern follows several disturbing factors, particularly the realisation that Nigeria is now the third ranked African country in Omicron infections, after South Africa (1,296 cases) and Botswana (291). NCDC says Nigeria has recorded 45 Omicron cases as of 20th December. On Friday, NCDC announced 1,356 fresh Covid infections which moved the total figure to 234,709. On hundred and ninety-seven Covid patients recovered on Friday to bring Nigeria's total recoveries to 212,237, while two fatalities were reported to take the figure to 2,993. In all, there are 19,479 active Covid -19 cases in Nigeria. NCDC said the first Omicron case in Nigeria was detected in a sample on 9th November. The variant, which was first detected in South Africa and Botswana, has spread to other countries. In its f...
Read more

Rising from adversity: For Adeyinka Peter Akintunde, a year after

Image
Adeyinka Peter Akintunde (11th August 1990 - 2nd February 2021) By Muyiwa Akintunde It's a day I wish never existed: 2nd February 2021. A few minutes past 10 pm, the young medical doctor that followed me back to my car that Tuesday at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja applied the tools on the body at the back seat and motioned to come along. He asked my wife to stay behind with the patient we had just brought in. Back to the doctor's corner.. "Who are you to him"?, he inquired. "He's my son", I mumbled a response. "I'm sorry, he is gone". I hardly display emotion. But for several minutes after those words of finality, I couldn't control the tears that issued from my eyes. Quickly, I realised I had to be strong. I had to be strong for my wife, who had dissolved in tears. I had to be strong for our other daughters (except the youngest, who was then on youth service in Delta State). They had found their way to the hospita...
Read more